The city’s classroom overcrowding problem should ease over time with the many new Calgary schools in development, though it may bring new financial pressures for school districts to solve.

Alberta Infrastructure is prioritizing short-term student distribution over long-term building efficiency, according to a CBE superintendent, with recent builds adhering to reduced energy consumption standards.

During the Feb. 10, 2026, CBE Board of Trustees meeting, Balmoral School was recognized as a top-performing commercial building in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. It was wonderful news, according to CBE Trustee Susan Vukadinovic,

Based on the school’s honour, Vukadinovic asked CBE officials if new schools would incorporate best practices in energy use.

“I imagine that this topic is very important to us, because energy efficiency is what helps us keep down our energy costs,” she said during the meeting.

The CBE admin response caught her off guard.

Superintendent, Facilities and Environmental Services, Dany Breton, said that Alberta Infrastructure, the government department responsible for building schools and determining standards, will consider energy efficiency differently than in previous new school builds. 

“In the past, the province and Alberta Infrastructure required all new schools to be built to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver level certification. They’re now calling for a National Energy Code of Canada for Building tier one standard, and that is the lowest of the tiers within that grouping,” he said.

The LEED silver certification, effectively a middle-tier, globally recognized symbol of sustainability, has a wider scope, Breton said, looking into things like energy conservation, decreasing water consumption, minimizing indoor noise pollution and creating thermal comfort through increased insulation.

The National Energy Code for Building (NECB) tier one focuses on the energy performance solely, with tier one being approximately 30 per cent less than LEED, Breton said. Using the new scale, buildings would have to reach tier two levels to match previous consumption, without mentioning the other aspects LEED measures, he said.

According to a document that was posted to the Alberta government’s website as late as July 2025 (found via the Wayback Machine), Alberta Infrastructure had adopted LEED certification for its buildings back in 2006. That webpage no longer exists on the Government of Alberta website. One section specifically pertains to the construction of schools to LEED silver levels, and it showed that the capital cost of schools with the certification was lower than comparable schools built within the past 15 years in the same board.

“Additionally, the 40-year energy costs were lower in 5 of 7 comparisons,” the Alberta government document read.

The Alberta government is trying to deliver more than 120 schools

According to a statement shared by Alberta Infrastructure, LEED requirements can be costly and are not always well suited to rural and northern communities. Removing this requirement has helped reduce barriers and supported delivering infrastructure faster and more cost‑effectively.

New school projects will be required to meet Tier 1 of the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2020, as adopted by Alberta under the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition.  

“Alberta’s government’s is committed to using cost‑effective energy efficiency measures and working in partnership with industry to identify best practices,” the statement reads.

According to the province’s Schools Now construction accelerator program, which was launched in the fall of 2024, there are more than 120 school projects in various stages of development. In the first year of the program, nine school projects were opened for students, with more than 6,000 new or renovated spaces. In all, there are 46 projects in Calgary and area that are in different stages.

The goal of the program is to deliver 200,000 new school spaces by 2031-2032, according to the information on the province’s website.

“As part of the program, we have also made improvements to our funding process to speed up the construction of new school projects. Funding for projects that are ready to proceed to the next step can be approved without having to wait for the next budget cycle, saving valuable time and opening schools sooner,” read the website.

That’s not lost on Calgary school board officials.

“I believe the province is focusing on delivering as many schools as fast as possible with the least cost. When you’re going through the LEED process, that causes additional costs and time to evaluate all of the different aspects of the building,” Breton said.

“From a nearer-term perspective, it is really focused on trying to get schools opened as soon as possible.”

Vukadinovic acknowledged the importance of timely construction, but was concerned with the potential shortsightedness of government.

“I’m quite disappointed by that. Quite concerned.”